Sheet positioning attachment



1.952 R. E, WI L BURN 01,589

' SHEET POSITIONING ATTACHMENT 1 Filed April w, 1943 2 SHEETS-SX-IEE'L' 1 IN V EN TOR.

RICHARD E. W/L BURN Ailg- 9 1952 is "a WILBURN 56075 SHE T POSITIONING ATTACHMENT nledAprn'le, 1948 2 SHEET$'-SHEET 2 IN V EN TOR.

RICHARD E W/L BURN BY%/FM Patented Aug. 19, 1952 UNITED STATES SHEET POSITIONING ATTACHMENT Richard E. Wilburn, Leavenworth, Kane;

Application April 19, 1948', Serial No. 21,944

invention relates tosheet positioning ate" tachments for automatic platen printing presses, and more particularlyuto' such an attachment for use'with'the Kluge automatic platen: pres of the type shown. in the patent to Kluge No. 2,318,165, patented May 4, 1944? -In a press oithe above-referred to. type suction fingers are. provided for feedingthe paperusheets from amagazine-t'o the platen. Paper that is cut the wrong, way of the grain, paper that is green and not properly ured,,-o;r that is curled or) otherwise, affected by temperature or other atmospheric conditions, and light weight paper, such as manifold, tissue and onion skin papers, are difl c l tto feed properly With a press of this type, This is especially true of lightweight papers, which, when fedat other than a very slow speed,' .do not properly settle on the platen so as, to lie fiat thereagainst; due to the :fact that air is trappedbetween thesheet and the platen after the sheetisplaced. on the platen.- Inasmuch as the sheet is not properly settled on the 'platen when the impression is made this causesaslur to the printed, matter and irregular registry. Also frequently a sheet, v due to this trapping of air, eludesthe grippers and is pulled into the; rollersof; the press, resulting i ss oi ime andwas ez i materials By the use of attachment to a press otthis character forming the subject matter of this invention' thesetraps are entirely overcome because the sheet is placedflat on the platen, thus eliminatingthe trapping of ai-r so that regardless of the pressspeed perfect registry is assured even larly with light weightpapersand because there are nointerruptions in the'operation of the press due to improperly fed paperbecoming entangled with otherparts of the press.

My attachment is used-in conjunction with the suction feedin -.meanslfor,thepaper and is carried by the moving parts of this feeding mechanism, being ad-justably mounted thereon for adjustment forv different sizesheets and being itself adjustable in accordance with the size of sheet thatis to be fed. V

More'spe fical ymvinvention compr es a-p of Pa r e in iine r iha e e iu a ein lengthand the angular position-01f which relaj 8 Claims. (01. znzo -2 tive'to the mounting for the suction fingers is adjustable so that said paper engaging fingers willenga'gethe paper in a proper manner when placed on the platen so as to. smooth out the paper andlay the same flatly on the platen and prevent any entrapmentof air between the paper and the face of the platen.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the description of the. drawings proceeds. I desire to have it understood,- ow.- ever, that I-do not intend to limit myself to the partic'ulardetails shownor described, except as definedin the claims. i a

In the drawings: 1

Fig. 1 is a view in side levation of a portion of an automatic platen press of the charact r to which my, invention is applied, showing my feedingattachment applied thereto. 7

Fig. 2 is a fragmentarygview in side elevation of uch a'pr showin myrfee in attachmen inposition tonga e the sheet with th p a Fig; 3 isa viewpartly in elevation and partly in section, on a sli htly lar er scal than F gs- 1 and 2, of my atta hm nt. and a portion f the feeding mechanism f the press wi hit par i an-in e m diate position betwee the ma aeand the platen:

ie- 4 i a v re,s-r ani lan vi w of the p rts hQW F -.3.- x

Fi 5 aplan .view a sm r sca o th platen, showing a-sheet placed in position thereon by the feeding means-to which my attachment has been applied. M

F 1 5 a s ontake 0ne line 6-6 f wF e- 7 a secti n taken on the line 1-4 of Fig.--3- t 7 Referring in detailto the-drawings, in Figs. 1

and-2 portions of a printing press 10 are shown, which has a platen"! I, the platen being shown in the position .to makethe impression in Fig. 1', andin theposition for receiving the paper in Fig. 2. press of the character to which my invention is applied provided with a feeding mechanism that has a movable arm l2 that is moved'from the position shown in Fig. 1 to that shown inFi'g- Z by means of rotatable member I3; with which the :arm? l2 is pivotally connected 7114- Saidarm l2"hasa crossbar I5 thereon that is usually square in cross; section.

A; plurality of suction fingers 16 having the uc ion n zz es H the eonismo med on. the bar l5; The suction nozzlesare connected with a suctioncreatingmeansthrough the flexible tubular members l8, which are mounted on the arm 3 I2 so as to move with said arm |2 and the cross bar I5. The details of construction of this suction feeding apparatus are not part of my invention and only sufiicient thereof is described to properly illustrate my invention. The sheet feeding mechanism further comprises a magazine that has an inclined bottom wall l9 and a follower 20, which is advanced by suitable mechanism step by step to move upwardly along the inclined'bottom [9 as the press operates. A holding arm 2| is also provided for holding the topmost sheet of the stack when the suction feedin fingers are moved away from the top of the stack,

suitable mechanism being provided for moving this arm 2| in timed relation 'tothe feeding mechanism.

Slidably mounted in the guide bar 40 is a flexible metal finger 46, said finger 46 fitting closely between the hook flanges 4| so that it will be held in adjusted position by the frictional engagement between the walls of the guide member and the flexible metal finger 46. Said flexible metal finger is thin and wide and flat, but has a slightly angularly deflected end portion 47, which, pref-- erably, has rounded corners; .48 as shown in Fig. 4. There are two of the guide bars 40 and two of the flexible fingers 46 provided and these are, preferably, so arranged that the out-turned ends 47 thereof have their extremities 49 terminating My attachment for properly placing the sheets I on the platen is mounted on the bar I5 and comprises a main body portion or head 22, there being two of said members 22 provided, as my attachments are used in pairs on'a press, being located on the bar I5 betweenithe suction fingers It in the manner illustrated in.Fig.-5. The body portion22 hasan opening that is square in cross section and is longitudinally slidably mounted on the square bar I5. The members 22 are provided with resilient means I for holding the same in adjusted position on the bar I5, the members'22 beingmovable toward and away from each other on the bar and being spaced apart a distance dependent upon the length of the sheet of paper that is being fed transversely of the platen. Said resilient means comprises a spring finger that has an upstanding portion 23 that is secured to the side face of the body portion 22 :by means of a. screw 24 and a spring finger 25 that has a downwardly bent or deflected end portion 26 that engages the fiat upper face of the bar I5 in the position shown in Fig. 3.- i

Each of said body portions has a transverse slot 21, which provides a flange-or upstanding ear 28 on said body portion. Said ear orfiange and the upper portion 29 of said bodyportion 22 have aligning openings 39 therein that are unthreaded and'which receive the threaded shank portion 3| of an arm that has aportion 32 extending at an oblique angle to the threaded portion 3|. A knurled collar 33 is provided, which has screw-threaded engagement with the screwthreaded portion 3| of the arm to thus make the arm adjustable in the openings 3|]. A look nut 34 is provided for locking the arm, in adjusted position. I

The extremity of the obliquely extending portion 32 of the arm has a bracket 35 pivotally mounted thereon by means of a pivot pin 36 that extends through an opening in the angular arm 32 and through aligning openings in the ears 3'! on said bracket. The bracket has a pair of recesses 38 in the opposite end thereof that have curved walls to'define a pair of curved flanges 39, in which a channeled bar 40 is mounted. The channeled bar 49 has a pair of hook flanges 4| extending along the longitudinal margins thereof and is an extension of a bracket 42, which is pivotally mounted on a depending ear 43 at the lower end of the body portion 22, the member 42 being bifurcated at the end 44 thereof and a pivot pin 45 extending through the bifurcations of said bracket 42 and the ear 43. The guide bar 4!! is I thus adapted to pivot about the pivot member 45 f as an axis as the bracket .35 is adjusted by means of adjustment of the position of the obliquely extending arm 32 by turning the her 33.

adjusting memslightly beyond the rear edge 50 of the sheet 5| that is being fed to the platen, both while moving toward the platen and upon engagement of the sheet 5| with the platen. the suction nozzle I'I engaging the sheet 5| near the forward edge 52 of said sheet. The sheets are customarily fed with their length extending crosswise of the platen so that-the edges 50 and-52 are side edges of the sheet. r

In operation the guide-bars 43 and the wide flexible metalfingers 46 are in "a' position sub stantially parallel to the top face of the stack of sheets 5| in the magazine when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. l The movement of the arm I Zis such that the bar I5 moves substantially perpendicularly to the upper or'forward face of the stack in moving the suction fingers and'parts'carried by the bar lii'away from the magazine until'a position is reached where the inclined bottom wall I9 of themagazine is fully cleared, whereupon the parts swing in a long sweepingarc toward the'platen. It willbe noted that my improved feeding attachment is so located that it will not interfere in any manner with the feeding motions of the suction nozzles or fingers, or in any'manner-with the holding finger 2| or any of the parts of the magazine in its movements with'the cross bar |5.'- In moving 7 the sheet from the position shown in Fig. 1

through the position shown in Fig. 3' to the position shown in Figs. 2'and 5 the suction; nozzle,

which isgripping the sheet near the'forwar'd or advancing edge 52 thereof, pulls the top sheet from the stack a'nd mqves'itina sweeping motion toward the platen. At the same time the flexible finger 4B of my improvedfeeding'attachment engages the sheet 5 |"nearthe trailing; edge 59 thereof and said sheet is'nem substantially in a straight ordistended positio-n'a's-itis swept down toward the platen. Uponengagement with the platen, thefingers 46 smoothout the sheet and lay'it flatly on the platen so asto'prevent any substantial amountfof-air from being trapped under the sheet 5| 'a'nd thus between: thesheet 5| and the platen Ic This assursfth'e proper location of the sheet on "the platen-inengagement with the grippers usuallyprovided and" assures thesettling of the Sheet flatly on the platen before the platen. begins its movement into impression making position; the entire sheet feeding mechanism beginning itslre turn movement before the movement ofithe" platen toward the impression making positionis b'egun' an'd thus the arm I2 and all parts carried thereby are out of the way, being in. the process of mo'ving back to theposition shown in Fig. l be'fore the platen II has moved to the position shown in Fig. 1.

After the impression has been made and the platen is returned substantially to the position shown in Fig. 2, suitable means that'are customarily provided-remove the printed sheet from the platen and deposit it on a stack-'of-printed-sheets 53,-

whereupon the feeding operations above described are repeated.

In order to have the-wide yielding metal fingers engage the sheet 5| at the proper position, it is necessary that the effective length of the fingers be adjusted by sliding the fingers in and out of the guide bars 46, dependent upon the width of sheet that is fed. Also the angularity of the guide bar 46 must be adjusted to get the proper hearing of the fingers 46 on the sheet, this being accomplished by means of the adjusting member 33. Furthermore the fingers 46 must be adjusted to obtain the desired spacing thereof lengthwise of the sheet or crosswise of the platen, this being done by adjusting the body portions 22 lengthwise of the bar l5. It will be noted that due to the curved recesses 38 provided in the bracket 35 there will be a central bearing 54 for the guide bar 40 in the bracket 35, said guide bar to the bracket 35.

What I claim is:

1. In a sheet feeding mechanism for platen presses, the combination with transversely spaced movable suction nozzles for transferring sheets one at a time from a magazine to a platen, of a pair of transversely spaced fingers on said feeding mechanism mounted to move in unison with said nozzles throughout the movement of said nozzles and having sheet engaging portions longitudinally spaced from said nozzles, means for adjusting the position of said fingers relative to said nozzles, and means for maintaining said fingers in fixed position relative to said nozzles for any adjusted position thereof.

2. In a sheet feeding mechanism for platen presses, the combination with transversely spaced movable suction nozzles for transferring sheets one at a time from a magazine to a platen, of a pair of transversely spaced fingers on said feeding mechanism mounted in a fixed adjusted position to move in unison with said nozzles throughout the movement of said nozzles and having sheet engaging portions longitudinally spaced from said nozzles, the transverse spacing of said fingers and the length thereof being adjustable.

3. In a sheet feeding mechanism for platen presses, the combination with transversely spaced movable suction nozzles for transferring sheets one at a time from a magazine to a platen, of a pair of transversely spaced fingers on said feeding mechanism mounted to move with said nozzles in unison and having sheet engaging portions longitudinally spaced from said nozzles, means for mounting said fingers in fixed position relative to said nozzles and means for adjusting said mounting to adjust said position, comprising means for adjusting the angularity of said fingers relative to said mounting and means for adjusting the length of said fingers.

4. In a sheet feeding mechanism for platen presses, the combination with movable suction nozzles for transferring sheets one at a time from a magazine to a platen mounted on a transverse bar, of a pair of members mounted on said bar for adjustment longitudinally thereof, and fingers mounted for angular adjustment relative to said members, said fingers having yieldable sheet engaging portions.

5. In a sheet feeding .mechanism for platen presses, the combination with movable suction nozzles for transferring sheets one at a time from a magazine to a platen mounted on a transverse bar, of a pair of members mounted on said bar for adjustment longitudinally thereof, and fingers mounted for angular adjustment relative to said members, said fingers each comprising a pair of telescopically related members whereby the length of said fingers is adjustable.

6. In a sheet feeding mechanism for platen presses, the combination with movable suction nozzles for transferring sheets one at a time from a magazine to a platen mounted on a transverse bar, of a pair of members mounted on said bar for adjustment longitudinally thereof, and fingers mounted for angular adjustment relative to said members, said fingers each comprising a pair of telescopically related members whereby the length of said fingers is'adjustable, one of said telescopically related members being yieldable and engaging the sheet being transferred.

7. In a sheet feeding mechanism for platen presses, the combination with movable suction nozzles for transferring sheets one at a time from a magazine to a platen mounted on a transverse bar, of a pair of members mounted on said bar for adjustment longitudinally thereof, and a finger pivotally mounted on each of said members, a finger supporting bracket, and means for adjustably mounting said bracket on said memher, said bracket engaging said finger in spaced relation to its pivotal mounting, said fingers comprising flexible members and members mounting said flexible members for longitudinal adjustment relative thereto whereby the length of said fingers is adjustable.

8. In a sheet feeding mechanism for platen presses, the combination with movable suction nozzles for transferring sheets one at a time from a magazine to a platen mounted on a transverse bar, of a pair of members mounted on said bar for adjustment longitudinally thereof, and a finger pivotally mounted on each of said members, a finger supporting bracket, and means for adjustably mounting said bracket on said member, said bracket engaging said finger in spaced relation to its pivotal mounting, said fingers comprising flexible members and members mounting said flexible members for longitudinal adjustment relative thereto whereby the length of said fingers is adjustable, said flexible members being wide and flat and having angularly extending end portions.

RICHARD E. WILBURN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 734,670 Cleathero July 28, 1903 1,640,768 Gutberlet Aug. 30, 1927 1,676,152 Morrison July 3, 1928 1,692,597 Vicum Nov. 20, 1928 1,789,662 Spiess July 20, 1931 2,156,139 Backhouse Apr. 25, 1939 

